Noem grilled by Democrat over DHS actions
Democratic Rep. Lauren Underwood grilled Noem over Homeland Security's actions since Trump took office, including the reduction of funds for programs and its controversial mass deportations.
Underwood reiterated that the Constitution and subsequent laws give Congress the power of the purse and repeatedly asked the DHS secretary if she adhered to that law given that the administration has pulled back funding.
Noem dodged the question, which infuriated Underwood.
"Judge after judge has ruled that the law has not been followed," she said.
Underwood also called out reports about the administration deporting U.S. citizens, but Noem testified that all of the deportations were of undocumented immigrants.
Noem also accused the Biden administration of covering up migrant crime by closing the office that tracks migrant crime, which the secretary reopened.
"The voices office opened under the Trump administration and President Biden posed to cover up exactly how many crimes against people in this country. We have reopened that office. We believe that that data would be helpful," Noem said.
Noem also said that while there are a 1.2 million orders for deportations, it is a diplomatic issue to work with other countries to get them to take back people who are in the country illegally.
"There are some countries that are still refusing to take their own citizens, and I would reiterate that every single country has a responsibility to take our citizens back, and that has always been something that has been an international common-sense agreement that has existed," Noem said. "Many countries today, even as they are working with us, aren't taking their citizens home very quickly. They may limit us to one or two planes a week. Mexico had a limitation on us for quite a period of time, even a limitation on what kind of aircraft we can use so working with those countries is a diplomatic job that consistently needs to be stayed on top of."
-ABC News' Luke Barr contributed
